Boxscore

IUP used tough defense and a big night from Ashton Smith (Scarborough, ON/West Hill Collegiate) to claim its second consecutive outright PSAC West title with a 55-46 win over Mercyhurst Saturday night at Memorial Field House.

The Crimson Hawks finished the season 21-5 overall and 12-2 in the PSAC West for their first back to back outright division crowns since  winning them in the 1993-94 and 94-95 seasons.

With the win IUP will host California Tuesday at Memorial Field House in the opening round of the PSAC playoffs while Mercyhurst (20-6, 11-3) will host Slippery Rock. A win on Tuesday would give the Crimson Hawks the right to host the PSAC Final Four by virtue of being the highest seed from the west division.

In the PSAC East Cheyney will be at Mansfield and East Stroudsburg will visit Kutztown.

With 16:17 to play in the second half IUP led 33-30 after Mercyhurst Shelton Jackson hit a pair of free throws. The Crimson Hawks went on a 20-8 run to build their largest lead of the game 53-38 with 5:08 to play. Mercyhurst never got closer than nine the rest of the way.

Smith scored a game-high 17 points and became the 27th player in school history to reach the 1,000 point plateau joining teammates Julian Sanders (Medford, NJ/Shawnee) and Darryl Webb (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach). Smith also dished out three assists and had two blocks.

Webb added 13 points and five rebounds. Sanders also reached double figures with 10 points five boards and a pair of helpers.

Willi Estrella (Santiago, Dominican Republic/Escuela sto Hermano Miguel) had a quiet night offensively but contributed 10 rebounds. Scooter Renkin (Midlothian, VA/Blue Ridge) provided a lift off the bench with five points, five rebounds, and five assists.

The IUP defense bottled up the PSAC's leading scorer Heiden Ratner holding him to nine points on 3 of 17 shooting. Ratner shot just 5 of 27 against the Crimson Hawks in two games.

Luis Leao was the only Laker to reach double figures with 10 points before he left the game with an injury at the 13:47 mark in the second half. Bill Weaver scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds.